


Flu

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 20:50:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17210711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: David has the flu, and Jack has to take care of him.





	Flu

It wasn’t just a cold. It had taken David nearly three days of dragging himself to work at the publishing company to admit that to himself. On the first day his nose ran, his voice cracked, and it felt like there were boulders in his head; Jack laughed at him for sounding like a frog. On the second day, the boulders were still there, but they were engaged in a particularly enthusiastic jousting match with the back of David’s eyeballs. His throat hurt so badly that that even the skin on his neck was tender to touch, and his lungs were full of fluid which came up greenish every time he coughed, leaving a grimy, bitter, salted slime in his mouth. Jack asked him at dinner that night if he was alright, and David said yes.

“I just need to drink a pot of hot water,” David explained, because that’s what his mama had always had him do when he started to take ill. “I’ll be okay then.”

Jack’s expression relaxed, his entire face becoming open and almost childishly relieved.

“Right,” said Jack. “Water. Got plenty of that. I’ll have ya fixed up in a second.”

When David crawled into bed next to Jack that night, he felt a little better. He told himself that the water was moving through his system, washing it clean of germs, and fortifying him for the morning to come.

By lunch the next day, however, the world was wavering, objects blotchy and blurring into each other like they were a part of a small children’s finger painting. David asked his boss if he could go home, and the request was granted right away.

The walk back to his apartment was something that David would never remember. It seemed that one moment he was struggling with the doorknob of his office building, and the next he slumped on the edge of his bed, too tired to question of protest as Jack helped him out of his work clothes with shaky fingers that struggled with every button. Jack didn’t say anything, except for a few curses, hastily bitten back, as he gave up on whatever he’d been trying to do, and tucked David into bed with one arm still in the sleeve of his best shirt. David managed to squirm out of it himself. It was easier without Jack manhandling him. He pushed the shirt onto the floor, buried his head in his pillow, and waited for sleep.

——

“You awake?” Jack asked. The room was darker now. David blinked, nodded, then shut his eyes again.

“Davey… hey Davey. Are ya sleeping?” David turned over. His nose was running onto the pillow. He decided to lie on his back so that it wouldn’t do that.

“Are you awake? You breathing alright?” David groaned. It was hard to keep track of time, but he suspected Jack was waking him up every half hour or so. The air was thick with cigarette smoke.

“I can’t get better if you don’t let me sleep,” David pointed out.

“Yeah, well seems ya got plenty of sleep when you fainted on the way home from work. What the hell you do that for?”

David tried to find an answer, but his mind was too fuzzy. He didn’t feel good.

“I just wanna make sure you’re… You’re still around, y'know?” Jack’s voice was small. David tried to take in the significance. He felt like he understood, but that didn’t mean he could articulate it, not right now.

Jack looked at David, waiting for him to say something. When he didn’t, Jack slipped under the covers next to him, and placed his hand over David’s chest, right where his heart was. Jack huffed out a breath, staring at a fixed spot on the wall.

“Guess you can sleep now,” Jack said. “I’ll just be here.”


End file.
